FEATURE | ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETING
FINALLY, A WINNING FORMULA? Account-based marketing has been much heralded, but does it really help the integration of marketing, sales and service, asks BETH ROGERS
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ailed as a new wave of professionals have been waiting a long time for technology-enhanced, digital technology that really enables all customers customer-focused processes that to feel that they have received a tailored would revolutionise business-toproposition, but the technology alone cannot do it. business marketing, accountStrategy and systems have to work together with based marketing (ABM) has its timely interventions from marketing and sales in enthusiasts and its sceptics. It has the potential to order to build effective ABM programmes. integrate marketing, sales and service to ensure better return on investment for suppliers and UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES better satisfaction for customers, but the gap ITSMA advises that there are four underlying between potential and fulfilment requires a lot of principles for successful ABM: strategic thinking and excellent execution. ABM cannot be ignored. According to research Customer-focus and insight from the Information Technology Services Understand the customer in enough depth to be Marketing Association (ITSMA), 78% of B2B able to create propositions that help them to marketers say that ABM is important to their achieve their objectives with their customers and strategy, and demand is led stakeholders. This mantra has internally by sales teams who been repeated so often over the “Demand for ABM is led want technology to generate decades. Peter Drucker said in by sales teams who want better quality leads and help the 1950s that the only purpose technology to generate prepare them for interactions of a company is to create and better quality leads and with customers and prospects. keep customers. Sadly, Furthermore, 57% report however, buying decisionhelp prepare them” moderate improvements in makers are still aware of return on investment versus suppliers who send out other types of marketing initiatives; 27% report salespeople without much understanding of their results that were significantly higher. What makes needs, and who are driven by an unrealistic sales the difference between being in the 16% not plan and incentives that distort their judgment. reaping rewards, and the 27% doing extremely An ABM programme will not help if the only well out of ABM? Like any new programme, it objective for installing it is to push sales. Improving must be evaluated and implemented thoroughly. customer understanding comes before the compelling results that pioneers of ABM have SO WHAT IS ABM? reported. Research and analytics are fundamental A definition of ABM is provided by ITSMA: prerequisites and co-requisites of ABM. The “Treating individual accounts as markets in their Internet of Things means that data can be own right.” Many business development gathered from machines in use, or locations via
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